I have opinions of my own - strong opinions - but I don't always agree with them.
George H. W. BushRead
If the American people knew what we have done, they would string us up from the lamp posts.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that the truth of government actions could provoke outrage among the public.
George H. W. Bush's quote expresses a deep concern about government actions that, if fully known by the American public, would lead to severe backlash and condemnation. It implies a disconnect between what the government does behind closed doors and what the citizens believe, highlighting issues of transparency and accountability in political leadership.
In practice
This quote could be used in a political debate discussing government transparency.
I have opinions of my own - strong opinions - but I don't always agree with them.
One of the good things about the way the Gulf War ended in 1991 is, you'd see the Vietnam veterans marching with the Gulf War veterans.
Communism didn't fall. It was pushed.
The anchor in our world today is freedom, holding us steady in times of change, a symbol of hope to all the world.
It's too much show business and too much prompting, too much artificiality, and not really debates. They're rehearsed appearances.
Appeasement does not work. As was the case in the 1930s, we see in Saddam Hussein an aggressive dictator threatening his neighbors.
What political leaders decide, intelligence services tend to seek to justify.
Five decades ago, as India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, began visibly ailing, the nation and the world were consumed by the question: 'After Nehru, who?' The inexpressible fear lay in the subtext to the question: 'After Nehru, what?'
What we have ignored is what citizens can do and the importance of real involvement of the people involved - versus just having somebody in Washington make a rule.
In the hands of politicians grand designs achieve nothing but new forms of the old misery.
There's never going to be a united Ireland, you know.
I can't admit to myself that the creation of a Palestinian state won't happen. What I know is that with each passing year it gets more and more difficult to happen, not least because there is more and more bloodshed, generation upon generation.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.